Kushan equipped technically to drive himself to the limits
Kushan driving his Mitsubishi Evo III at a local rally
At just 24, Kushan Peiris has achieved what many others in the motorsports arena are still dreaming about. Hailing from a family that is totally connected to cars and racing, young Kushan can be considered the youngest driver to engage in Sri Lanka’s highest motorcar segment, the Class SLGT.
On the way, claiming three Best Driver awards in his promising career, is considered a greater triumph and a testimony of a future star in local motorsports. Today Kushan has become a key contender in the Ford Laser/Mazda and Honda 1600cc events while becoming a gradual threat to other competitors in the main event, Class SLGT.
Entering the competitive grade nine years ago, following his father’s trail, Kushan has already become a nuisance to other experienced contenders in the sport.
“My father (Dhammika Peiris) was a competitor since 1994 and I was born in 1996, which means that he was into motorsports even before I was born. After 2000, I saw him competing and I was heavily influenced by him. But he did not compete much in gravel events. He was a top contender at any event held in Katukurunda. I should easily say that my father was my influence into motorsports,” Kushan recalled.
By today Kushan has competed in all racetracks around
Sri Lanka, before making two international appearances. He has earned a name as key contender in the core motorsport segment among other top drivers for his canny and shrewd style of competition in the top event.
While gradually earning the favourite’s tag, Kushan performed quite impressively in the 2017 and 2018 seasons in the main class. But he failed to reach competitiveness in 2019 in the Class SLGT event.
“The reason for my drawback last season could be highlighted as the failure in the technical aspect. From time to time, the machine caused problems and my technical assistants made a huge effort to rectify those, but without any productive response. Last season luck was totally against me and I missed two good opportunities at the Cavalry Supercross and Colombo Supercross. I was almost the champion in both those events and suddenly I was fully out of contention,” he explained on the setbacks he experienced.
With his bitter experience from last season Kushan is now serious in digging into the technicality of motor racing. He takes ace driver Ashan Silva, who happens to be the best racing driver around in Sri Lanka and one of his close rivals, as a role model in moving deep beyond the steering wheel and set of paddles.
“Ashan Silva is undoubtedly an asset to local motorsports in Lanka. He rose from scratch, learning the trade from attending the German Technology Institution, installing his own garage and then gradually entering the racing scene with an Evolution III. Today he has proved his capability. I, as a youngster, have not witnessed that kind of commitment from any other driver and for that reason I do not consider him as a challenge, but as a blessing to compete alongside. As a race driver, I have a lot to learn from him, so there will be more to learn in the future. To be frank he is an inspiration to my career.”
With the assistance of famed international race driver Dilantha Malagamuwa, Kushan was able to contest two international events. His first event representing Sri Lanka was in Indonesia teaming up with Ushan Perera as Sri Lanka Automobile Sports (SLAS) came forward to their support. Following that Kushan, Ashan Silva, Kaushal Samarasinghe and Dilantha Malagamuwa teamed up to compete in an endurance race in Abu Dhabi, where the foursome together drove a car for six hours and finished at 20th among 40 cars.
Kushan’s whole family is backing him and his younger brother Mihan immensely to fulfill the dream of becoming the best drivers of Sri Lanka and beyond. Unlike last year, Kushan was looking forward to have a season without any technical failures or difficulties, but his wait now looks to be longer than expected with the 2020 motorsports calendar yet to kick-off.
With good intentions Kushan has already directly got involved as a member of the technical team, even though he is the driver.
“Earlier I used to drive the cars prepared by my technical team, but this year I made a few changes. I can certainly learn gradually. In 2017, before Pasindu Peiris got involved in an accident at Kuda Oya, I had the idea of competing until I am able. But that view is now different, because I have understood that this is a sport that involves great amount of risk. I may push myself further, until I become the number one driver of Sri Lanka and I may suddenly call it a day after I get there. I always have the aspiration of becoming the top driver in Sri Lanka and recording a win representing the country at international level.”